Stochastic model to simulate spray fluidized bed agglomeration: a morphological approach

Abstract

Constant volume Monte Carlo (CVMC) method is a stochastic method used to describe the agglomerate growth during spray fluidized bed agglomeration (SFBA). The methodology overcomes the difficulties of expressing and solving multivariate population balance equations (PBE). It enables to account for micro-scale events and processes involved in the agglomeration process, especially for binder addition and drying. Previous CVMC models assume that all agglomerates have the same porosity. This simplistic assumption is replaced in the present paper by given fractal dimension, which means that porosity can change with agglomerate size and process conditions. Evaluation of measured morphological descriptors and the agglomeration rates shows that this leads to more realistic results.